Common Agricultural Policy Reform: Northern Ireland

Baroness Amos: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Agriculture in Northern Ireland has made the following Statement:
	The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development for Northern Ireland launched a major consultation exercise in September 2003 covering the choice of the main implementation options arising out of the CAP reform agreement reached in Luxembourg on 26 June 2003. The consultation ended on 16 January 2004 and after having considered stakeholder responses and the relative merits of the available choices, I have decided to deploy the following options in Northern Ireland.
	Full decoupling of direct producer support will be implemented across the beef, sheep and arable sectors.
	Full decoupling of direct producer support will be introduced in the diary sector from 2005.
	The model of decoupling used will be a static vertical hybrid based partly on eligible land held in 2005 and partly on past patterns of individual producer subsidy claims.
	National envelopes will not be deployed at this point.
	Decisions on the use of the additional rural development regulation options are deferred and will be considered as part of a separate consultation exercise on future modulation policy scheduled to commence in March 2004.

Fire and Rescue Authorities: Charging

Lord Rooker: My right honourable friend the Minister for Local Government, Regional Governance and Fire has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	I have today made available copies of a consultation document on charging for services by fire and rescue authorities in the Libraries of the House.
	Authorities already have a power under the Fire Services Act 1947 to charge for services other than fighting fires. The White Paper Our Fire and Rescue Service gave a commitment to continue to provide such a power and to consult on any proposals to extend the charging regime.
	Clause 19 of the Fire and Rescue Services Bill currently before this House provides for the Secretary of State to specify by order the services for which an authority may levy a charge.
	The consultation document contains details of the services for which authorities in England and Wales currently levy a charge and these form the basis of our proposals. Comments are welcome on any part of our proposals. In particular, we welcome responses on the direction of travel in respect of the provision by authorities of detailed advice or consultancy.
	The consultation period will close on 7 May 2004.

Community Radio

Lord McIntosh of Haringey: My right honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Tessa Jowell) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has today published a draft Community Radio Order, associated Keeling Schedule and Explanatory Memorandum for public consultation. Copies of these documents are available in the House Libraries, or from the department's website. The department welcomes comments and the consultation period will last until 20 April 2004.
	This order proposes to introduce a new tier of very local, not-for-profit (or not profit-distributing) radio. Community radio should be different from, and complementary to, existing independent local radio. Community radio offers potential benefits in terms of social inclusion, local educational, training and experience, wider access for communities to broadcasting opportunities.
	The Communications Act provides for the possible establishment of a fund to support community radio. Ofcom will shortly be publishing its own draft guidance on how to apply for community radio licences.

Union Modernisation

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (Gerry Sutcliffe) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	Today, I tabled an amendment to the Employment Relations Bill concerning the provision of a new funding scheme. The amendment inserts a new section into the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 which would create a power for the Secretary of State to make funds available to independent trade unions and federations of trade unions to modernise their operations.
	I envisage that the size of the fund would be in the region of £5 million to £10 million in total, with expenditure spread over several years, probably beginning in 2005–06. The funding scheme would be used to support innovative projects in such areas as: training union representatives (for example in the area of business and people management) in order to help to promote the development of high performance workplaces; reviewing internal union structures and organisation and to support more efficient management systems within unions; enabling unions to broaden their dialogue with members by greater use of the Internet and other new technologies and to develop innovative and user-friendly voting mechanisms; and making union systems more accessible to young people and other underrepresented groups within unions.
	The case for establishing a fund is compelling. Unions, just like businesses, need targeted support to speed their adaptation to changing labour market trends and to new ways of working. Unions have done much to modernise themselves and several, often supported by the TUC, have made significant progress in that direction. However, as a number of representations from unions have confirmed, without assistance the pace of change will be slow. By encouraging unions to adapt more quickly, we will ensure that they play their full and considerable part in building productive relations at work. That will benefit union members, other workers, their employers and the economy more generally.
	The fund will not therefore be used to support the day-to-day work of unions, and it will not impact directly on collective bargaining. It will not be used to support projects which could be funded from other government programmes.
	Subject to parliamentary approval of this new provision, the Government will publish for full public consultation the draft rules and procedures of the fund after Royal Assent. It is likely that these rules and procedures will draw on the example of the Partnership at Work Fund, involving an independent advisory board who will make recommendations to my right honourable friend the Secretary of State on the acceptability of union bids for fund money.